Many assembled products require that different parts be assembled together at a plurality of work or assembly stations in a production line. One example of such a product is roller chain, where the various components of the chain are added one piece at a time, and then pressed together, for example, to assemble the complete chain. Many of such products are made in different sizes for different end uses. For example, different roller chains may have a variety of pitches, that is, the distance between the centerlines of adjacent rollers, calling for different lengths of top, bottom and link plates. The distance between the pressing mechanisms relates to the pitch of the chain. With different pitches and lengths of link plates, it is necessary that the different pressing mechanisms be spaced apart at specific distances varying with the product. Thus, in a typical manufacturing operation, several assembly lines had to be designed to accept different tooling. Thus, in a typical assembly operation, several assembly lines were needed to make different products, or the stations had to be designed to accept different tooling. However, since the pressing mechanisms had to be spaced apart at different distances, the tooling had to be designed with various offsets to account for the different sizes of components to accommodate the different train stack-up. In such offset tooling, one work station support would be used with replaceable tooling. The replaceable tooling included a vertically-operating press equipment and a horizontally operating slide. Depending on the pitch of the chain, the vertical press could operate in a plane offset from the vertical center plane of the work station support, resulting in unbalanced loads being placed on the work station support. Another alternative was to provide for additional track to be incorporated between the stations, such as curved track, and to use the variable track length to allow for more efficient production. Problems could arise in using both of these solutions: using offset tooling creates off-center loading during pressing of the components and off-center loading can lead to wear and premature failure of the work station support; adding curved track not only adds to the expense of the operation, but also creates potential operating problems in feeding the parts through the curved track sections.